Leeds United must first overcome a problem out of their control if they are to succeed in their pursuit of Norwich City attacker Jon Rowe.

Leeds’ hopes of replacing Crysencio Summerville with the Canaries young winger Rowe may ultimately hinge upon factors outside their sphere of influence. The YEP understands talks are ongoing with Norwich City for the England Under-21 international who scored 12 Championship goals last term and has found the net four times in five pre-season matches this summer.

Norwich have already seen talismanic midfielder Gabriel Sara depart for Galatasaray this month, while forward Christos Tzolis joined Fortuna Düsseldorf in a cut-price £3 million pre-agreed deal after netting 22 times in Germany’s second tier for the club last season - a deal which now appears vastly below the Greek international’s market value. Tzolis has subsequently signed for Club Brugge in Belgium for £5.5 million - a sum closer to his worth after a bumper 2. Bundesliga campaign.

Should the Norfolk club also lose Rowe to Leeds, new boss Jens Thorup will have lost an attacking trio who scored 47 league goals between them last season, which is a hard sell for any board of directors to justify to a new coach and equally as difficult to give grounds for to supporters who were 180 minutes from a return to Premier League football two-and-a-half months ago.

The PR surrounding Rowe’s prospective Leeds move dictates that Norwich must be seen to receive a good deal for the player, although that is complicated at the Carrow Road end by the looming spectre of just 12 months remaining on the 21-year-old’s contract. Although, local newspaper the Pink Un claim Norwich have the option to trigger an extension in Rowe's contract by a further year. Nevertheless, the external factor of the Canaries' public perception is what Leeds must overcome in order to land their man.

Rowe’s last contract extension, came in January 2022, at which point he had only made a handful of appearances for the club, much less hit double figures in a single campaign and made his England U21 debut, as was the case during 2023/24.

It is therefore reasonable to assume that save for automatically triggered wage increases once a certain number of appearances or the like had been reached over the past two-and-a-half years, Rowe will be on similar terms at Norwich as he was at the time of his most recent extension.

With cash recouped from the sale of Sara and the release of several first-team players at the end of last season, there is most likely facility to improve Rowe’s deal if all parties were open to such a scenario. But rarely do players of Rowe’s potential and interest allow their contracts to reach the final 12 months without the intention of leveraging a vastly improved deal, or more likely in this case, a transfer.

Even with the Sara proceeds, Norwich are not a club flush with outside investment. The Canaries are a modestly-valued club, even by Championship standards and after the last two seasons in the second tier, Premier League parachute payments will be no more come the end of 2024/25.

In all likelihood, with the need still to replace a large portion of last season’s squad, there will come a point when Norwich can no longer resist the figures put forth by clubs such as Leeds, in their pursuit of Rowe.

But, they must be seen to put up a fight. While there is no suggestion yet that the reported Leeds' offer was rebuffed or even submitted for that matter, theoretically rejecting any bid buys time, good-will amongst fans and perhaps an improved offer, which when Leeds like someone, is usually forthcoming, or at least has been the case this summer.

If Leeds want Rowe badly enough, they will get their man, as they did with Joe Rodon, Jayden Bogle and perhaps others previously linked so far this summer.